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ESP and altered states of consciousness: an overview of conceptual and research trends
Journal of Parapsychology, The, March, 1998 by Carlos S. Alvarado
that are likely to facilitate or to hinder high ESP scores are likely to
have a similar effect in an altered state experiment. (p. 116)
Although the studies following Honorton's model and Schmeidler's assessment are important, we should realize that few of the studies in question have assessed the occurrence or depth of altered states, as opposed to using procedures in which it is assumed that consciousness has been altered. This trend is clear in the ganzfeld studies conducted in recent years. If we focus on the ganzfeld work reported at recent conventions of the Parapsychological Association, it is clear that researchers are paying little attention to the altered states such procedures are supposed to induce. Most of the studies in question have assessed the relationship of ESP scores to variables such as affinity to or emotionality of target material (Bierman, 1995; Bosga, Gerding, & Wezelman, 1994), relationships between participants, such as the sex pairing of sender and receivers (Dalton, 1994) and their social or familial relationships to each other (Broughton & Alexander, 1995), personality variables (Bierman, 1995; Broughton & Alexander, 1995; Morris et al., 1995; van Kampen, Bierman, & Wezelman, 1994), static versus dynamic targets (Kanthamani & Broughton, 1994), experimenter effects (Johansson & Parker, 1995; Morris et al., 1995), creativity (Dalton, 1997a), and the effect of the agent (Morris et al., 1995). There have also been attempts to test Honorton's success model (Kanthamani &: Broughton, 1994; Morris et al., 1995). This, of course, is part of the contemporary tendency to consider laboratory ESP testing from a multivariate perspective (e.g., Dalton, 1997b; Delanoy, 1997; Schmeidler, 1994). Although all of these views (and studies) remind us that there is more to ESP test performance than ASCs, it is unfortunate that current trends of research have abandoned assessment of the role of altered states in ESP functioning.
Even those studies which have such undisputed ASCs as dreams (e.g., Dalton, Steinkamp, & Sherwood, 1996) do not tell us anything about the ESP-ASC relationship other than that positive ESP scoring can be obtained during altered states. I am not criticizing the quality nor the topic of current research, but I am, instead, calling for renewed interest in the ESP-ASC relationship from the experimenters in our field. Perhaps future research may employ designs capable of assessing the role of ASCs on ESP scores; some may follow the efforts summarized in Table 3 to correlate aspects of alterations of consciousness to ESP scores. I also would like to encourage designs that would allow us to evaluate the magnitude of the potential influence of ASCs on ESP scores in relation to other competing variables. One possible way to conduct this research is by using multiple regression techniques in which ESP scores are the dependent variable, and measures of ASC intensity (or other aspects of the ASC) are assessed with other independent variables such as openness to experience, creativity, emotionality of the target, and other possible predictors. But, in order to accomplish analyses of this sort, the research community needs to be interested in the assessment of ASCs; that is, they need to consistently use state reports and other instruments (on this issue, see Stanford, 1993). Additionally, experimenters need to change the current practice of conducting small N studies, because multivariate statistical techniques require more data points than the usual 30, 40, or 50 trials used in current experimental practice.(18)
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